Five Colleges in Connecticut Among Top 100 "Best Bang for the Buck"

Five Connecticut colleges have earned a place on the list of Best Bang for the Buck Colleges in the Northeast—a ranking of schools according to how well they help non-wealthy students attain marketable degrees at affordable prices, published annually by Washington Monthly magazine. 

Yale University in New Haven was among the national leaders using the magazine’s metrics for 2020, ranked at number 2 in the Northeast.  Wesleyan University in Middletown ranked number 29, just ahead of Trinity College in Hartford at number 31.  Fairfield University placed at number 39 and Connecticut College in New London at number 80.   

A total of 1,469 colleges were considered in the rankings, including public, private nonprofit, and for-profit institutions. The rankings consisted of three equally weighted portions: social mobility, research, and community and national service. This means, according to the magazine’s editors, “that top-ranked colleges needed to be excellent across the full breadth of our measures, rather than excelling in just one.”

The annual list was created by isolating the social mobility metrics from the main rankings of four-year institutions.  Categories included 8 year graduation rate, number of Pell graduates, percentage of first generation students, median earnings 10 years after entering college, and net price of attendance for families below $75,000 income.

The percentage of first generation students – the first in their families to go to college - attending the institutions, according to the data, was 23% at Yale, 19% at Wesleyan, 17% at Fairfield, 16% at Trinity, and 14% at Connecticut College. 

Median earnings 10 years after entering college was said to be $81,849 for those who attended Yale, $71,603 at Fairfield, $61,063 for Trinity alumni, $54,448 for those who attended Connecticut College and $51,804 for graduates of Wesleyan.

At Trinity College, before student scholarships, financial aid and loans, student costs include $56,380 for tuition and, including all fees, room and board, $74,400, according to the school’s website, which emphasizes that “A college education is one of the most important investments you will ever make.“ 

At Connecticut College, what is described as a “comprehensive fee” for 2020-21 is $75,315. This covers tuition, room and board, as well as “lab fees, studio fees, special programs, some course-related travel, study away and even music lessons.”  Yale University lists a tuition of $57,700 and a total, including room and board, of $74,900.  Not included are health care and other student fees. 

At Wesleyan, tuition is $59,086 per academic year; at Fairfield University it is $50,550.  Those numbers are exclusive of additional student costs.  

The analysis found that nationwide, the “best bang for the buck” colleges were Harvard University, Yale University, Goddard College (Vermont), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, University of Pennsylvania, Bentley University and CUNY Baruch College and Rutgers University.